


Five Rules for Tony that James Rhodes Taught the Avengers (and the one rule they taught him)

by AngeNoir



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Awesome James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Friendship, Gen, Love, Minor Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Platonic Life Partners, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 01:44:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15208115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngeNoir/pseuds/AngeNoir
Summary: James knew Tony for more than half his life at this point, which meant he knew a lot about Tony, and the small eccentricities Tony exhibited. Joining the Avengers, now that Tony was stepping away, he only thought it his duty as best friend to teach the Avengers the things he learned.





	Five Rules for Tony that James Rhodes Taught the Avengers (and the one rule they taught him)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DameJ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DameJ/gifts).



> My poor, patient auction winner finally has their story, a year and a few months late x.x I hope you like how it turned out!

**Rule Number One: When You See Tony, Offer Him a Hug – and Don’t Be the First to Let Go**

James could understand why no one would know this rule, at least superficially. It was hard to get close to a guy, after all, that talked your ear off and seemed non-stop. Still, Tony was super tactile – always picking things up, touching people, getting close up in people’s personal spaces without physically touching them – and he craved touch like a drug.

(The less said about the one spring break James had taken with Tony that had ended up with them at the Stark Manor, the better.)

So it wasn’t really a big surprise that none of the Avengers knew this key rule, though James had hoped Tony had gotten close enough to them that they could see his desperate need.

It didn’t matter in the long run, though – he would fix that.

Tony may have stepped away from the team (for reasons James didn’t agree with, but Tony needed time to lick his wounds in private and regroup, and if anyone deserved the space, it would be Tony) but that didn’t mean Tony was _physically_ staying away from the team. The first weekend Tony had made the trip upstate to the compound (blowing off an investor meeting, James knew, but he also knew that Pepper preferred it when Tony did not actually show up for those meetings, as Tony tended to piss off the investors more than placate them), James strode right up to him, arms wide in invitation.

It seemed to take Tony back, though James wasn’t sure why. He glanced around, almost nervously, at Sam and Wanda who were sitting in the living quarters, before tentatively stepping into James’s outstretched arms.

James curled his arms around Tony and wondered what Tony was thinking about, when he looked so surprised and worried about Sam and Wanda’s presence.

Tony smelled the same, at least – the tang of metal, and a little bit of a singed scent that never seemed to leave his hair – and he tucked perfectly under James’s chin. Closing his eyes, James breathed in slow and deep, and he felt Tony begin to relax against James’s chest, unconsciously mimicking James’s breathing pattern.

“Hey, Tony! I didn’t know you were here already.”

James could physically feel Tony’s shoulders pull tight again, and then Tony stepped back and away. For a moment, James let the pressure of his arms linger, letting Tony know he was still available, before he let his arms fall to his sides.

Tony was already striding towards Steve, and if his smile was a little too practiced, well, James wasn’t going to call him on it. Instead, he pondered what could make Tony self-conscious – and didn’t like the answers he came up with.

“What was that?” Wanda asked.

James turned towards her. “What was what?” he asked.

“ _That_. You, hugging Stark.”

“Yeah, Tony’s a real hands-off, no-touchy kinda guy,” Sam added.

“Oh, no, he’s _really_ not. He just assumes no one else likes being touched, and so until you start pushing into his personal space, he’ll stay the hell out of yours,” James explained immediately, returning to his seat by the window where he had been reading a book before Tony had come in. “He’s a sucker for hugs. Loves them. But he’ll always assume you don’t want one, so you need to let _him_ be the one to pull away first.”

Sam and Wanda eyed one another.

***

_“You know, the weirdest thing happened to me.”_

“Oh yeah, Tones?”

_“Yeah – right before I left? Wilson came up and just – put his arms out. Like you. What is it, he jealous I’ll hug you and not him?”_

“Are his hugs better than mine? Do I need to be jealous?” James asked, smiling a little to himself, warmed by the thought of the Avengers slowly learning how to interact properly with Tony.

_“Of course not, sweet pea, it was just – odd. And good.”_

“I’m glad, then.”

 

**Rule Number Two: Tony Will Never Ask to Join in – Always Offer, and Insist**

It was about two weeks before Tony was back at the Avengers Compound – which sounded like a lot of time, but really, James was sure that Tony was blowing off a bunch of things to come back so quickly. After all, running a company that was making some of the biggest waves in clean energy came with a price, and being busy was only part of that price.

But here was Tony, walking back through the doors, almost nervously. Before James could even stand up – he had his hands full with his greasy, dripping sandwich – Natasha was up and moving, arms open in an invitation.

Tony eyed her suspiciously, but when her arms didn’t falter or waver, and her expression remained neutral, he slowly stepped into her space and gingerly hugged her.

She patted the back of his head, and he blinked in confusion before taking in the scene – the six of them (Wanda, Sam, Steve, Natasha, James, and Vision) in the kitchen with burgers and all the fixings, moving around one another like a family. Licking his lips, he took a step back from Natasha – and she let him go easily – before his smile became a little awkward and forced. “Came at a bad time, I see. I’ll just head to the workshop, and—”

“Come on, Tony, there’s more than enough food here for you. We’re having a family meal – Sam was teaching Vision and Wanda how to properly grill a burger,” James said immediately.

“Oh…” Tony trailed off, and glanced around at everyone. “I – I have a lot of work to complete. There’s a lot of things I’m behind on.”

“Well, if you need to,” Steve said, turning away from Tony and reaching for the mustard.

By that point, James had realized that none of the Avengers were used to Tony’s pathological need _and_ fear of closeness, so he had already dropped his food and was up and moving. Before Tony managed to slip down the hallway he was there, snagging Tony’s sleeve. “No, man, are you sure? These are really good burgers. C’mon, when’s the last time you had burgers with the team?”

Tony leaned back uncertainly. “I’m not so sure, sweetpea, this is not exactly—”

“Seriously, man. _Really_ good burgers.”

Thank god someone had some sense; Sam chimed in from his seat. “Yeah, man. You’re always welcome to join. If you’re really busy, of course, we don’t wanna force you, but we miss having you around, Tony.”

Slowly, clearly nervous, Tony followed James into the kitchen. He looked really out of place, but when Sam scooted his chair sideways to give him more space and Vision put a plate of fries in front of Tony, James smiled as he watched Tony gradually relax.

***

_“Those were really awesome burgers. For an android, you wouldn’t think Vision could cook so well.”_

“You know, you’re welcome to come by. We have big team dinners on Friday nights, and we always eat lunch together on Wednesdays and Sundays,” James said as he flipped through the paperwork in front of him that needed to be completed to finalize his loaner status to the Avengers.

_“Jeez, you guys are having so much fun, I wouldn’t want to impose—”_

James cut in before Tony could go down that road. “Man, don’t even joke, you know you’re always welcome. It doesn’t really feel like the Avengers without you. I keep turning to talk to you and you’re not there.”

There was a long moment of silence, and then a soft sigh and chuckle.

_“Maybe I’ll stop by again. It was… nice.”_

**Rule Number Three: If Possible, Bring in Donuts for Tony (or Something Sweet)**

James was a bit more rushed in his clean-up procedure on the armor than normal, but he thought the hurry could be excused, especially considering that Tony had been absent of the Avengers compound for over a month now. He’d had an important sale to make in Japan, and it had taken the better part of the month just to set it up and get the details ironed out (according to Pepper, the person James had been in contact with all this time), but now Tony was back, was in his workshop at this very minute, and James was champing at the bit to get down to see him.

Of course, he knew that Tony wasn’t expecting anyone – the whole team had been out halfway across the U.S. – but that would make the surprise all the better.

Halfway through his mad dash to the workshop, James paused. Tony wasn’t expecting anyone – was most likely creating upgrades, doing maintenance, and running system checks on everything. If he had been there for any length of time, he was either tired, hungry, annoyed, or all three.

Checking his progress, he made his way to the kitchen and looked to scare up either some donuts that may have been left behind from some meeting at some point, or something similar enough to donuts that it would count. They were Tony’s absolute favorite comfort food, and it was always easy to tempt him into eating them, which put carbs and energy quickly into Tony’s body.

There were some blueberry muffins, a little stale, on the counter. James figured they’d be good enough for this pinch, especially considering that he didn’t want to head out, get something sweet, and head back. Snagging them, and a few mini candy bars that Natasha thought she was good at hiding, he made his way down to the workshop.

The elevator opened up to show Clint standing there, leaning against the back. He quirked an eye at the muffins and started to reach out. Instinctively, reactively, James shifted to move the muffins out of Clint’s reach. “No,” he said sternly. “These are for Tony.”

Clint squinted at him suspiciously. “ _Both_ of them? I could just eat one. C’mon, man, we’re all tired and worn down from that call; I deserve to eat too.”

“There’s other stuff in the kitchen, and you can head right up there and eat whatever,” James said firmly, even as he was beginning to realize his behavior looked ridiculous to the outside observer.

“Yeah, you aren’t a nanny at all, bringing Tony food. He’s a grown-ass man,” Clint mumbled, folding his arms, and if it had just been Clint joking around, if Rhodey had been a bit more focused on Tony and getting to Tony, he would have let it go, or made some snide remark.

Instead, he saw it for what it was – hurt, and even some small jealousy about Tony’s preferential treatment. With a sigh, he said, “Look, man, if you get the materials, I’ll make you some more muffins, but Tony always forgets to eat when he’s in the workshop, and it’s only sugar that can tempt him. Honestly, it’s normally donuts I’d be bringing him, so I’m hoping this will be good enough to get him to eat.”

Clint opened his mouth, some hurt still in the back of his eyes, and then he paused. “Tony always does seem hungry when he comes out of the workshop,” he said slowly.

“Seriously, donuts are the best thing to give him. I don’t want to delay, though – he’s been here on his own long enough and while he has probably been snacking on dried fruit and drinking those disgusting smoothies of his, he needs something a little more sustaining,” James said, trying to explain further. “I’m not trying to hoard things for him or anything you’re thinking of.”

“Yeah, no, I get it, Rhodes,” Clint sighed, slumping more heavily against the elevator. “I just could eat an elephant right now. But Natasha gets that way with chocolate, too, so just go ahead.”

James eyed Clint one more moment before smiling a little. “Thanks man. Tony… he’s a grown-ass man, he can take care of himself, but he doesn’t actually eat sweet things on his own.”

Clint smiled as the elevator dinged and James exited, moving into the hallway to tap in the code for Tony’s workshop.

***

_“It’s the darnedest thing.”_

“You sound so shocked,” James laughed, flipping through his records.

_“I have never eaten so many sweets in my life, honeybear. This is a travesty. Why would my team do this to me? Think of my waistline!”_

Snickering, James shook his head. “Oh, the horror,” he said fondly. “Your team wants you to eat.”

 _“I eat!”_ Tony’s voice was indignant, and James could imagine that pouty look on his face. _“I am a grown-ass man, I can feed myself.”_

“No one’s saying you can’t,” James pointed out. “They’re just… letting you know they care.”

There was silence on the other end, and Tony huffed. _“Weird.”_

“That’s rich, coming from you,” James grunted.

 _“I’ll figure out what you’re doing, Rhodey-pie, see if I don’t!”_ Tony threatened.

James hung up, laughing.

 

**Rule Number Four: Tony Stark Is a Grown-Ass Man and Does Not Need to Be Fed – but Gentle Reminders Are OK**

James looked up from where he was filling out his mission reports. “That’s a large plate,” he remarked to Steve.

“Yes, well, Tony is down in his workshop again, and as best I can figure it he’s been down there almost two days. I’m making sure he gets food.”

James eyed the food piled high. “You know, Tony can feed himself. He’s not the best at remembering time, but he keeps a bunch of stuff down there to feed himself if he needs to.”

Steve lifted an eyebrow at James. “I would think you’d encourage feeding Tony, James.”

“I mean, you can invite him to eat, you can remind him how long it’s been since he last ate, but he’s not going to like you trying to feed him like, like a toddler,” James said. “Even when he was a scrawny twig in MIT, he hated being babied. Sweet foods get carbs in him fast after an engineering binge, but if he’s not voluntarily coming out, you going in and trying to force-feed him healthy stuff isn’t going to work.”

For a moment, it looked like Steve was going to go ahead anyway with it. It wasn’t as if Tony would send Steve away, of course, but Tony definitely wouldn’t eat any of that. The food was overly rich, heavy and weighty, and that wasn’t something Tony would touch. Then, with a sigh, Steve turned back to James. “Okay, well, you’re the Tony whisperer. You go get him to eat.”

“Oh, no, not me,” James said, grinning. “You may as well try. You’ll have to learn how to give him the reminders he needs to drag him out of his engineering fugue. But I wouldn’t use that type of food. Snacks, dried fruit, finger foods – light things without a lot of carbs. Those are what will encourage him to snack, and that will wake up his hunger enough that he’ll come out and eat.”

Looking over the lasagna, baked potatoes, and curried chicken that he had assembled from the leftovers in the fridge, Steve winced. “This isn’t food conducive to him eating, is it?”

“Not really,” James chuckled. “It’ll just sit there, congeal, Dum-E will get worried, it will grow fuzz, and Friday will eventually instruct U to throw the plate in the trash.”

With a nod, Steve returned to the kitchen. James could hear him moving around. When Steve next emerged, he had cut the meat into small bites, easily picked up with fingers, the curry paste mostly, if not completely, gone, the baked potato also in small chunks, the lasagna no longer on the plate and instead a bunch of nuts and dried fruit sitting where the lasagna had once been.

“Did you just empty a package of trail mix there?” James said, lifting an eyebrow.

Steve huffed. “He needs to eat. Two _days_.”

“I’m sure he’s been snacking throughout those two days,” James muttered dismissively, though now that he thought about it, Tony _had_ been rather single-minded. It was entirely possible that he had gone these past two days without munching on the different snacks he had squirreled away in the workshop.

Hopefully, Tony would snack on the food Steve was offering.

***

_“It’s like they’re, I dunno, chopping the food up into pieces for a toddler!”_

“If you’re really upset about it, Tony, just tell them to fuck off. You’re a grown man. You can take care of myself.”

There was a breath of silence, James listening closely and smiling fondly when Tony replied – the pout clear in Tony’s voice. _“I like their care. Steve keeps popping down.”_

Humming, James signed his name on another line and closed the folder, picking up the last one to fill out and sign off on. “I’m glad they’re being helpful.”

_“You were never this helpful.”_

“Who introduced you to apple chips, you ungrateful brat?” James said indignantly.

There was a heartbeat of dead silence, and then Tony cleared his throat. _“That’s right. Well, they’re being helpful now, so ha.”_

James grinned, signing his name with a flourish. If they were finally taking care of Tony the way they were supposed to be, his work here was done. His entire goal had been to make sure Tony was appreciated the way he deserved, and the Avengers were, at last, taking that ideal to heart.

 

**Rule Number Five: Tony Stark Will Bend over Backwards to Do Things for You, so Be Grateful – and Make It Clear He’s Worth More Than What He Can Do for You**

“—fucking _awesome_.”

James looked up from his tablet as he walked into the common room. “What’s awesome now?” he asked, maneuvering through the forest of legs and claiming the last recliner that was free.

Clint leaned back against the couch, grinning, neck straining so he could see James behind him. “Tony stopped by this morning, dumped some tech on us, and jetted away. He gave me _bola arrows_.”

James blinked for a moment, then narrowed his eyes. “Do arrows need to be bolas? Couldn’t you bring someone down without needing the bola aspect?”

“Exactly what I said,” Sam muttered, holding a magazine determinedly in front of his face.

“Yeah… but _bola. Arrows._ ”

James shook his head and cleared his throat. “What face did he make?”

Sitting correctly as James came fully into the common room, Clint tilted his head a little. “Face?”

“Yeah. Tony’s like, allergic to thanks, so he makes this really flustered face and blushes. It’s ridiculously adorable.” James sunk into the couch.

There was a quiet pause, one that put James’s teeth on edge. He hadn’t thought the Avengers would just take the shit Tony made for them without ever trying to say thank you. They hadn’t seemed _that_ cruel, but then again, the lengths of meanness he’d seen directed at Tony before was more than enough to sour his taste for erring on the wrong side of caution. “You _did_ thank him, right?” James said, voice more than a little disapproving and angry.

“We tried, at the beginning, but he would run away so fast…” Clint began, and then cleared his throat awkwardly. “We say thank you, but he just disappears, so it’s… we never get to see his face, honestly.”

James bit his tongue. His first instinct was to get angry, though that wasn’t a realistic reaction considering that Tony was still learning how to insert himself into the Avengers post Ultron – Tony never stuck around, because he always assumed he wasn’t wanted, but that didn’t change the fact that you couldn’t _force_ him to stick around. There were tricks to getting past his shell, and while he was pissed that it appeared the Avengers _didn’t_ thank him for what he made, he was more than a little aware that it was very easy with Tony to assume certain thinks weren’t needed – or weren’t wanted. So he cleared his throat and instead said, “I’m sure he did his best to dodge all your thanks at the beginning, but it is kinda important to keep it up because he’s used to a lot of people just taking advantage of all the money he spends on them. It’s a lot of shit he does for others that no one acknowledges, so he gets antsy when people _do_ acknowledge it.”

Almost unwillingly, James mind flashed back to MIT, when he realized the skinny kid he’d dragged out of a bathroom at a frat party had paid off his college loans – he’d been there on scholarship, but scholarships didn’t pay for room and board and food and books and shit – and had nearly beaten the kid senseless, sure the kid was just trying to pay him off not to tell that a sixteen years-old kid had been puking his guts out in a fraternity’s clubhouse. It had taken him a while to realize that Tony didn’t expect anything in return for his generosity, and it had taken him _years_ to figure out how to give thanks that Tony would accept.

He couldn’t fault the Avengers for not knowing how to handle the prickly genius when he himself still consistently made mistakes.

So instead he made himself take a slow breath and pick his words carefully. “You know… I get that Tony’s hard to thank. But you _have_ to thank him, yeah?”

He must not have made his voice as completely bland as he had intended, because Clint and Sam looked antsy and nervous. Clearing his throat, he rubbed the back of his neck. “I just, I’m used to people never saying thanks for everything he does. So you have to try, and not let him brush it off, yeah? Just try – I know more than others how hard it can be to get him to accept it.”

***

_“How the fuck do I get them to stop?”_

James chuckled, sure he knew what Tony was talking about. “Stop what?”

 _“Every time I come, they’re always being so…. Gah! I don’t know! They won’t stop! It’s just stuff, I’m the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, I have all the money I need, it doesn’t_ matter _to me—”_

“Then it probably does matter to them, and they’re letting you know.”

 _“Don’t think I don’t notice all this started happening after you joined, I_ know _you’re infecting them with your bad habits.”_

“Maybe they’re finally giving you the recognition you deserve,” James said in his most deadpan voice.

_“I know you’re fucking with me, honey buns, don’t think that you’re getting away with that!”_

James smiled, warmth uncurling in his chest as he tried – not very hard, admittedly – to deny that he was the cause of the increase in thanks that was putting Tony’s back up. “I don’t think I’m getting away with anything, Tony. Maybe you ought to try saying you’re welcome some time?”

 _“They’re always welcome, I don’t get – it doesn’t make_ sense _for it to start now, I had gotten them trained into just ignoring it when I gave them stuff…”_

James chuckled.

_“It’s not funny, Rhodey!”_

 

**\+ Rule Number Six: Tony Loves Unconditionally - Make Sure He Knows You Love Him Back**

It was quite by accident that James heard it, honestly. It was… it was a complete surprise to hear it. While James was perfectly easy with physical affection, he was very bad with verbal expressions of affection. It had never been a problem, he had thought.

Then, one day, he watched Steve curl an arm around Tony, and then Steve murmured, “Love you, man.”

Tony’s cheeks dusted pink, even as he laughed and flapped his hand dismissively. James almost – _almost_ – dismissed the scene, thinking it unimportant (because, let’s face it, Steve and Tony were slowly dancing around each other and getting closer and closer each round), until, later that day, when Tony had a new upgrade of Clint’s arrows, that James watched Clint bump shoulders with Tony. “Love ya, Tin Man,” he said, smiling, and Tony chuckled.

It was… something James was not used to hearing. The Rhodes family was always physically affectionate with one another, but they were not verbally affectionate. Part of this was, yes, toxic masculinity and he was man enough to recognize that, at this stage of his life – his father had been very active in their lives, hugging and playing with them, but he was also a very reticent man, who never spoke a word more than he had to.

So hearing it was something… strange. But what was stranger was seeing Tony’s shy smile and his flustered response each time.

It was something he obviously enjoyed, and liked.

Something the Avengers knew, or at least had stumbled upon, that it had never even occurred to James to do.

He was going to have to rectify this as soon as possible.

Surprisingly, it was really hard for him to find a time to make it natural. Oh, he could and had easily said that he knew how close they were, and that he had Tony’s back, but the actual words _I love you_ …

He finally managed to garner up the balls to say it one day. (He had practiced, embarrassingly, but the words didn’t feel natural in his mouth and he didn’t want to choke, didn’t want to freeze up and make it seem like it was anything less than utterly sincere.) The other Avengers had been at a training exercise, and it had just been him and Tony in the workshop, Tony upgrading and fiddling with things that honestly didn’t need to be fiddled with – but James _knew_ , knew that was how Tony showed his care.

James just needed to show Tony his care. Or, rather, he needed to verbalize it so Tony could have no doubt.

After five minutes, James was calling himself ten kinds of idiot. He’d open his mouth, to say three little words that shouldn’t be hard, not when it was _true_ , but it felt unnatural to say it, and each time he’d close his mouth.

“You okay over there, platypus?”

James tried not to jump in his seat, glancing over at Tony, who was looking at him curiously. “What?” James said, hoping to cover his odd behavior. Of course, not only was Tony exceedingly observant, but he had Friday around to pay attention when he wasn’t.

“You have something to say, Rhodey? You’re looking a little like a fish over there,” Tony said, putting down the soldering iron and tapping the joint of the gauntlet he’d been fiddling with. “Something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” James said immediately, though he couldn’t keep his nerves from making him tap his pen on the paper he’d been jotting down the intricate changes they were making to the HUD in War Machine. “I’m just…” He trailed off, not sure how to continue.

Dammit, his family hadn’t been _cold_ with each other – he’d hugged his dad, played ball, his mother had always asked about his day, everything like that. They just never… said… those words.

Maybe if he came at it sideways. “You know – you know that one of the best things in my life was when I walked into that tiny dorm and saw this over-caffeinated pipsqueak almost vibrating out of his chair, right?”

“Aww, Rhodey, that’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me!” Tony cooed from where he was sitting, batting his eyes playfully.

James glowered down at his hands. That was not what he meant, but he’d try and take it as he figured out how to go from there.

Also – that’s the sweetest thing he ever said to Tony? Man, he must suck as a friend.

Clearing his throat, he licked his lips and searched for a way to say the actual words. “I just… you know, you’re my closest friend…”

“Honeybun, if you’re trying to say that you love me, I know. I’ve always known, and I love you too,” Tony laughed, leaning back in his chair and kicking his feet up as he cradled the gauntlet in his lap.

James stared at Tony in utter disbelief. “You – you _asshole_!” he managed to gasp.

Tony frowned. “Excuse me?”

“You couldn’t have given me a few more moments or – shit, something, and let me say it? You had to say it first?”

Tony’s mouth dropped open incredulously. “Are you – are you _angry_ I said it before you?”

“You’re damn right I am!” James said hotly, aware he was being irrational, but not quite sure how to explain how frustrated – and relieved, which only increased his frustration – he was that Tony not only beat him to saying it but seemed to be okay with James sidestepping the whole ‘saying-the-words-directly’ thing that James had been trying to do. “I was going to say it, and you just – _interrupted_ me!”

Tony lifted one eyebrow, more amused than anything, which both made James feel better about his anger that Tony wasn’t upset at this, _and_ made him feel angry that Tony was amused in the first place. “So… let me get this straight. I should have just let you start and stop, endlessly, unable to say anything of any real importance, just repeating the same thing over and over while you tried to gain the ability to say the words, when I _knew_ what you were saying and saved you the trouble?” he asked.

James stood up, eyes flashing. “You are _worth_ the trouble, dammit!” he snarled. “It’s just three fucking words, and I can’t even force them out of my mouth, and you should’ve waited until I could find the balls to say it!”

“Well, it could’ve taken a long fucking while,” Tony laughed, completely putting his tools down as he regarded James with bemused hilarity. “And time is money, and you couldn’t afford me in the first place, let alone the amount of time it would take you to fumble the landing. I cut out the unnecessary parts—”

“It is _not_ unnecessary, it is something you fucking deserve, because you _are_ loved and just because I can’t say those three shitty words doesn’t mean I _don’t_ love you, and you should show some fucking consideration for my struggle!” James shouted.

Tony blinked lazily, mouth split in a shit-eating grin. “So, just to be straight, I should’ve let you fumble those three words because you _do_ love me.”

“Yes!” James snapped, and then he blinked and felt his cheeks flush.

“Aww, that’s so sweet, teddy bear!”

“Aw, shut up,” James mumbled, sitting down heavily. “I was gonna say it.”

He could hear Tony’s hair honk against the floor as Tony pushed back, and then Tony dropped a hand on James’s shoulder. “I know you were, pookie.”

“What did I say about those motherfucking nicknames like that? Man, it’s things like that that have Carol asking if you’re aiming for a threesome.”

Tony hesitated, and immediately James said, “No. Tony, no.”

With a soft laugh, Tony’s arm came partway around James’s shoulders, tentative, so James turned in his seat to give Tony a proper hug. “Sounds like she wants it to be ‘Tony, yes’,” Tony teased.

“Shuttup, man. Let me have my freak out in peace,” James mumbled into Tony’s shoulder – and it couldn’t be easy for Tony, since he was standing and James was sitting, but James didn’t want to let go.

“’Course, Rhodey-pie. Whatever you say.”

“You’re a smug asshole, you know that?” James grumbled.

Tony laughed, chest vibrating against James’s. “But you love me anyway.”

And something – made it easier. Opened. James took a breath, made his arms stiff as he pushed Tony back a little so he could look Tony in the eyes. “I do,” he said, soft and as steady as he could make his words. “I do. Love. You.”

It was broken a little, and it maybe wasn’t as smooth, but Tony’s eyes softened, glistened, and he gently chucked a punch at James’s shoulders. “You ol’ softie. I always knew that. Who else would put up with my skinny, over-caffeinated teenage ass in MIT?”

And it might not have been perfect, but it was them, and James felt his heart warm as he added this new rule in his head.


End file.
